Pay-what-you-wish on the Academy of Natural Sciences' Founders Day

The Academy began in 1812

Victoria Spalding of South Jersey, left, takes notes and prepares a question for Karen Verterame, Invertebrate Specialist at the Academy of Natural Sciences about 'Danielle' the Curly Hair tarantula in the terrarium.

In 19th-century Philadelphia, seven amateur naturalists created the academy. It started with one room on the second floor of a house at Second and Race Streets, housing eight books and a map of Switzerland.